Saturday: Colby avenges Friday night lost to Bowdoin in 202nd installment of rivalry

This is Part II of Benet Pols recap of this weekend's 201st and 202nd installments of the Bowdoin/Colby rivalry. For Part I, click here. 

Colby avenged Friday's loss at home (pictured) with a win in Brunswick on Saturday

by Benet Pols 

Last season Colby didn’t have three points in the NESCAC until a January 11th tie against Trinity. Three points over the first two weekends this year point to good things to come for the White Mules. The Mules ended last season with a big push going 4-1-2 down the stretch, including 4-1-1 in NESCAC. So far this young season seems like a continuation of that play. It is early, but the Mules have played their four first games against what are arguably the top three contenders for the NESCAC title this year in Williams, Middlebury, and Bowdoin.

The Mules clearly had some help from the Polar Bears Saturday night before walking away with a 4-2 win, but last season’s leading goal scorer and Concannon Award semi-finalist, Nick Lanza (F ’14), got un-tracked with a three goal outburst. He’d been held to only two assists during the first three games.

Granted he was given a big assist on his fourth goal by a Bowdoin defender who made a blind pass out of the left corner across the zone. Lanza picked the pass off ten feet inside the blue-line and walked in alone on Bowdoin’s goaltender Steve Messina (G ’14). This goal was particularly galling for the Polar Bear faithful as Bowdoin had closed a three goal deficit to make the score 3-1 just 18 seconds earlier.

The sloppy defensive-end play that plagued Bowdoin last weekend was evident frequently against Colby. The cross-ice pass that led to Lanza’s hat-trick had been repeated several times in the first period but the pick-offs occurred outside the blue-line so Bowdoin never paid. Play behind the net also damaged Bowdoin’s efforts to build a transition game; it also cost them on the scoreboard. Colby’s first goal came off the loose puck in the right hand corner. Both defenders got trapped in the corner by one forechecking Colby player. When the puck squirted out front the Mules had several whacks at it before Lanza, in the slot, put home a long rebound.

The first period ended scoreless with Colby’s Sam Parker (G ‘15) called on to make 13 saves while Colby fired 7 shots at Messina. Colby’s best chance for a goal came midway through the period when a scrum in front of Messina prevented him from tying the puck up.  Several players took stabs at it. Likely half of Colby’s shots for the period came in this brief interval.

Bowdoin’s best chance had come just seconds earlier when a blown play by a Colby defender left Kyle Lockwood (F ’14) alone in the slot but he never really got a handle on the puck.  Had Lockwood scored the student cheering section would have gone berserk. An enormous poster of Lockwood’s head mounted on a wooden frame was on display most of the evening. Evidently he has fans.

Late in the period Bowdoin’s John McGinnis (F ’15) headed behind the net from the right side but abruptly changed direction wrong footing both the Colby goaltender, Parker, and Ben Chwick (F ’14); for an instant McGinnis had the short-side and fans at that end of the rink, along with the Bowdoin players nearby felt he’d scored. The referees disagreed.

Bowdoin reshuffled the lines for the second period breaking up the trio of Ollie Koo (F, '14), Harry Matheson (F, '14) and Colin Downey (F, '14), with each ending up on new lines. The new line-ups resulted in fewer shots on goal, with no goals among the ten shots Bowdoin fired at Parker. 

Lanza and Colby’s first goal came at 9:58; assists went to Ray Zeek  (F ’15) and Chwick. As the period wound down the Polar Bears gave the puck up in their own end, forcing Messina to make three saves in the waning seconds of the period.

In the third period, Colby scored three goals in less than four minutes while the Polar Bears managed to squeeze one in those same four minutes.

Bowdoin had had the first good opportunity when Kyle Lockwood hit the short-side post from a bad angle at the right side of the net. Lockwood had taken a feed from McGinnis who, again, had been using the space at the side and behind the net to lose defenders.

Moments later in transition Colby scored. EJ Rauseo (F ’17) took a feed from Matt Gelnaw (D ’14) and beat Messina. It was the freshman’s first goal and the puck was duly retrieved and deposited with the equipment manager. Lanza’s second goal came two minutes later on the power play; helpers went to Jack Bartlett (F ’14) and Co-Captain Brendan Cosgrove (D ’14).

Bowdoin fans had reason to hope just a minute later when the Polar Bears finally broke the ice. Freshman Kendall Culbertson notched his second goal of the year with a hard shot from the slot; assists went to Matt Rubinoff (F ’16) and Chris Fenwick (F ’16).

Lanza completed the hat trick just 18 seconds later  with an unassisted goal after picking up an errant pass inside the blue-line. A full 15 minutes remained but the energy that came with Culbertson’s goal dissipated and was replaced with a mood of desperation. Bowdoin pressured closing the gap to two with Rubinoff’s goal at 8:21. Brendan Conroy (D ’17) picked up his first collegiate point with an assist. Colby tried with all their might to let Bowdoin back into the game getting called for three, nearly consecutive, minors during the last eight minutes of play, but despite the extra attacker Bowdoin could not score.

Things got ugly at the end with Bartlett being called for hitting after the whistle at 18:47, but with Bowdoin already on the power play the referee was not about to let them go up two men. A matching slashing call was given to Bowdoin’s Matheson.

Even the final buzzer didn’t end things as Bowdoin’s Lockwood was called for crosschecking while Colby’s Lanza and Bartlett---again---were called for hitting after the whistle at the 20:00 minute mark. Bartlett had just gotten out of the box as time expired.

Parker ended the game with 35 saves for Colby while Messina stopped 20 for Bowdoin.

The Pete Schuh award, traditionally given to the MVP of the Bowdoin/Colby game held in Brunswick went to Nick Lanza for his three-goal effort.

Next up for Bowdoin is an out-of-conference match-up with Pine Tree State rival UNE (2-4-1, 1-4-1 ECAC-E) in Biddeford on Tuesday the 26th. UNE lost 4-1 this weekend to ECAC-East foe and neighbor University of Southern Maine; USM fell to Colby last week 5-2.

Colby’s next action is next weekend when Bowdoin and Colby jointly host the Bowdoin/colby Facefff Classic. In recent years this event has featured two games against ECAC-Northeast members Suffolk and Salve Regina, but this year UMass-Dartmouth replaces Salve. UMD was the winner of the MASCAC tournament last year and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they met Bowdoin for a first round game in Brunswick; the Polar Bears won that game 5-2.

UMD’s Coach John Rolli is a member of the elite “500” club having accumulated 557 wins against 175 losses and 34 ties in his 29 years behind the bench. Among active Div III coaches, only Norwich’s Mike McShane and Middlebury’s Bill Beaney have more wins.

On Saturday the 30^th all four teams play in Waterville. Bowdoin and Suffolk face-off at 1:00, while Colby and UMD play at 4:00. The teams travel to Brunswick for Sunday’s games. Bowdoin takes on UMD, Suffolk plays Colby.

UMD is 2-3-0 in MASCAC this year, 2-4-0 overall after taking an 8-2 pounding on opening night at the hands of ECAC-E contender UMass-Boston. Suffolk is 2-2-1 in ECAC-NE, 3-2-1 overall. There are no common opponents.